


A Sweeter Thing He'd Never Known

by alliancedogtags



Category: Red Dead Redemption
Genre: Kissing, M/M, Reunions, Spoilers, Tooth Rotting Fluff, but for now... let them be soft, someday i'll write smth raunchy i swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 06:56:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16805686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alliancedogtags/pseuds/alliancedogtags
Summary: arthur and charles get a proper reunion.





	A Sweeter Thing He'd Never Known

**Author's Note:**

> i needed a break and some fluff 🤭 unedited as usual, this is hot off the press my pals  
> arthur never meets downes because fuck canon

As things went with the Van Der Linde gang, a proper welcome wasn’t made. Sure, the public face of one, starting with a tight hug from Charles that had a man like Arthur just nearly feeling his eyes sting. The smallest of welcomes, it felt like, considering Charles had created a distraction and managed to drift away into the night, and the impromptu trip to Guarma had been less than exciting.

Arthur remembered that when his body hit the thrashing waves of the ocean and he’d drifted off into the dark himself, his first thoughts were of Charles. When the waves pulled at his limbs until they were numb and weak, he wondered not for the first time since the bank heist if Charles had even made it. Hell, maybe he was even going to join him right then and there, head bobbing underneath and above the surface of the water, lungs burning every time he broke the surface and gasped out for air.

Something kept him going. 

Maybe someone was actually what had helped him through that, Arthur thought. When Charles was a solid person and not a sleep deprived idea in his arms, he thought just maybe he knew exactly what he was still fighting for.

It was a short enough hug for appearances, with the whole gang crammed into that little shack on the shore. There would be time later.

Or, there wouldn’t be. Arthur and Charles had just made eye contact over the glow of the lantern and he’d been working on a way to slip away unnoticed when the Pinkertons arrived. Neither of them could ask for the other’s attention, for a  _ proper _ reunion when both were instantly in action, nor the following hours while Charles made sure that everyone was fine and alive while Arthur was instantly set with hauling the bodies away. 

Hours passed, each more dragging than the last, and finally Arthur was able to find Charles resting as well, sitting on boxes and sharpening his knives, laid out on the box beside him. In the greenish tint of the swamp lighting, he was still the most beautiful thing Arthur had ever seen.

_ Just run away with him. Go, and never look back. _

“Charles, ride with me?” Arthur finally asked, watching as Charles’ head lifted and he looked over a shoulder at him. Just that look was enough to speed Arthur’s heart up a few beats.

“Always.”

And just like that Arthur felt back, like he hadn’t left, save for the ever-present need to pull Charles into that tight hug they both deserved. He could at least hold on until he was out of Lagras, he was sure. Slightly sure. Less sure when Charles met him at the edge of camp, the sunlight filtering through the trees and lighting up the angles of his face, making that smile all the more brighter.

Arthur was lost. 

He turned Caps to follow alongside Taima, picking up a light trot and feeling the muggy air on his skin as the two went. “Now, we’ve about five minutes before I yank you down off your gal there and give you a proper greetin’.”

That earned him a laugh, a lighthearted one. Maybe Arthur wasn’t the only one who’d done plenty of thinking during their time apart. “Is that a promise?”

“‘Course it’s a promise, Charles,” Arthur replied, sweeping his arms out wide and shooting Charles a sunny grin when he did. “Ain’t I a man of my word?”

“Always have been,” Charles replied, smiling back at Arthur. “I know it might not be the right time, what with the happenings in camp, but I’ve been looking for some time alone.”

“Lucky for us, we jus’ got that time.” Arthur reached down, running a hand over the spotted side of Caps’ neck, feeling the horse settle a bit beneath his touch. He’d missed her - from the ship to the island to the ship to Van Horn, he’d longed to have his own horse back. When he’d seen her the night before she’d damn near crawled into his jacket.

“Beats packin’ up camp,” Charles replied, nudging Taima into the wheel track beside Arthur.

They’d made it a decent distance, both holding themselves together. Quite a thing, really, Arthur occupying his hands with the reins and Charles restless beside him, both silent lest they dump out all of the pent up emotions right then and there. For now they rode quietly, Caps matching Taima’s quick pace, following when Charles left the trail to head out into the trees. Some form of peace for a proper reunion.

Arthur was the first off when they found a place to stop, patting the side of his mare’s neck before quickly rounding her to step over to Charles, still in the saddle. Like a gentleman, he held out a hand, to which Charles shot him a quick look.

“Seriously? Are you tryin’ to woo me?” Charles teased, although he took Arthur’s hand, dismounting and dropping right into Arthur’s arms. 

For a moment they stood there like that, Arthur’s arms wrapping tight around Charles, Charles tucking his face into the curve of Arthur’s neck. All was silent, save the birds and the click of horse’s teeth as the two grazed together.

“I thought you were dead,” Charles finally breathed out, hands curling against Arthur’s back as he took a deep breath. It broke Arthur’s heart in every little way.

“I thought  _ you _ were dead,” Arthur replied. “When you went to distract those guards, I thought that’s it right then and there. Felt more like throwin’ you to the wolves to save our hides.”

“All I knew was that Dutch had a big bag of money and you were on that ship. A part of me was worried at first that was the last time that I’d see you.” Charles lifted his head to look at Arthur, moving his hands to cup his cheeks and trace his thumbs along the rise of his cheekbones. “But I knew if you were alive, you’d come back.”

“Nothin’ could stop me from runnin’ back,” Arthur murmured, leaning in to kiss Charles soundly before speaking again. “Not when m’ world’s right here.”

“Your world?” Charles asked, voice serious though he was smiling wide when Arthur looked at him again.

“Reckon I had plenty of time to think ‘bout that.” Arthur’s hands settled on Charles’ hips, feeling that flutter in his chest again and the pink in his cheeks when Charles kept looking at him like that, like maybe Arthur wasn’t too crazy saying that at all. “But if that’s a bit much -”

“Just kiss me again, cowboy,” Charles replied, smile warm and inviting, thumb brushing along Arthur’s lower lip. “Show me how much a world means to you.”

“Show - oh, I’ll show.” In one quick motion Arthur had his arms around Charles enough to lift him off his feet, startling both a laugh and a protest out of him. “Though I reckon’ we should save the horses from gettin’ a case of all-overness. Taima’s looking a tad bashful as it is.”

“So you have to carry me to do it?” Charles laughed, arms coming around Arthur’s shoulders for balance. Arthur just replied with a smile, taking slow steps to the base of a tree before gently setting Charles to his feet and lifting his hands back to his hips.

And then in the next moment he took Charles’ hand, dropping down to the ground and yanking the man back down with him, leaving Charles laughing again. A better sound, he’d never heard. They adjusted so Arthur was laying on his back, Charles on his side next to him and sitting up on an elbow and tracing his fingers over his chest.

“Haven’t gotten that kiss yet,” Charles finally murmured, once they’d fully settled in the grass together. 

“I’m gettin’ there,” Arthur replied with a laugh, hooking a finger in the front of Charles’ shirt and tugging him forward. “Had to set the scene.”

By the last word he’d pulled Charles down enough to let their lips connect, kissing him sweet and long. Every little unspoken word was hushed by the press of Charles’ lips against his own, the hand on Arthur’s chest a steady weight. 

Charles kissed with every unspoken emotion, bittersweet and yet so perfectly him, the feeling of two men who had thought the other might be dead. When Arthur came up for air Charles was pulling him right back in, tongue darting so lightly over his lower lip that he thought he might have been dreaming it. He might have been, up until he parted his lips and felt that skilled tongue against his own, felt Charles’ hand tangle in his hair and give it a tug. 

Charles tasted like coffee and a quick snack for breakfast, the underlying flavor something that was just  _ him. _ A taste Arthur had missed very much, as much as the man himself, basking in the sweet, quiet sound that escaped him when Arthur caught his lower lip between his teeth when Charles pulled back just slightly. He longed to get more sounds out of the man, to feel the warmth of thighs against his ears, to slide his fingers up the firm plane of his back and dig his nails in.

For now, though, on a job, he could settle for the way that Charles caught his breath before diving back in, tongue a gentle press past his lips, feeling as though he may fall apart then and there.

That’s what a world deserved, after all.


End file.
